New to Magic World

[hdan]

Hello all, I just picked up a copy of MW. Yes, I'm aware that the game has gone "out of support" recently, but I've become a big fan of the basic Chaosium d100 system, and MW looks exactly like the fantasy game I want to run for my group, so I bought it anyway.

I'm experienced running various flavors of D&D and Traveller, but aside from a few CoC games, I'm not as familiar with the basic assumptions that MW has. I have a few questions that I hope someone can help me with. Also, is there a "search" function for this forum? I didn't see it. Forgive me if these are FAQ type issues.

First, when you sacrifice a POW point to bind something or create a skeleton, am I right that that POW is gone forever? (Well, until you can find some way to get a new POW point at any rate?)

Also, when a spell says range "touch", do you actually need to touch the target? If that target is an enemy, how and when do you make that roll?

And finally, since Dodge defaults to a value that involves your DEX, do you also add the %bonus for DEX/2 to that value? (I figure, "why not?" since Dodge is very important, but it does seem a little odd.)

Thanks!

[tooley1chris]

Hey Hdan! Welcome to the goodness that is Magic World.

First and foremost you'll find that this system is very easily customizable to whatever YOU see fit and I encourage you to interpret "rules" as it makes sense to you and increases your ability to enjoy the system. You'll see throughout these forums how various people interpret rules differently or how they house rule them. That can get confusing but what matters most is that you and your group have fun.

As far as rules as written, some POW sacrafices mention specifically that spent POW returns at certain points and in specific situations. When a spell doesn't mention a return of sacrificed POW assume it is gone and does not return. Of course the spell caster can still earn more POW later.

When a spell has a range of touch the casting character must roll a Brawl skill attempt to make contact. This can be parried by a shield or weapon and can be dodged but can't be parried by an unarmed target. In my house this brawl strike doesn't also do brawl damage but others will tell you different.

Dodge does still incorporate a characteristic bonus. 

Don't be shy in asking questions. The people here are great and friendly.

When I first started playing I had problems with some of the rules that the writers assumed I'd already know as well and people here who have been playing for years longer than me never lost patience with my ignorance.

 

 

Edited September 26, 2016 by tooley1chris

[hdan]

Thanks, tooley1chris!

I did the requisite "read as much of the forum's backlog as you can" step last week, and that's part of what convinced me to grab a copy of MW. That, and our recent stint of CoC games which showed that the d100 system is not only easy to run, but enjoyable for everyone involved, if a bit more dangerous than my D&D players are used to.

Brawl makes sense. I should probably adjust my test character's spell list accordingly.

Side note - I first read "3 spells", not "3 spell levels"  My test character has POW=16, but wasn't specifically trained as a Sorcerer. I rolled the stats pretty straight up, so this one wound up without much STR, and a pretty average DEX and CON, but decent POW and INT. I had already decided the character would be a trader (what can I say, I have Traveller roots), so I wound up with more Bargain than Brawn. I'm curious to see if I can keep her alive (flipped a coin for sex), though she's destined to be an NPC, as I always wind up being the GM. (As a side note, do people like seeing character write ups on this board? I can't claim any sort of talent for writing, but it's fun.)

I appreciate (and like) that MW is so highly customizable. I'm likely to use Kobold Press's "Midgard" setting as a template for my world if I can talk my group into playing MW. I've already seen the excellent "Big Damn Book of Monsters" and the various side treks, which have been very helpful trying to get the feel for what adventures might look like under this system.

I really like the ship rules BTW. They make me anxious to do a Pirates sort of game.

[jagerfury]

The aspect of sacrificing power to complete a magical task is an awesome feature for the game. The "traditional" way to avoid personal sacrifice is to have someone else make it for you. Sure, the first intelligent being to go down beneath your knife for greater sorcerous powers, but after that the slippery slope of evil gets easier to glide down for the budding Wizard 

[Mankcam]

I first came across this concept with Enchatments years ago in the the RQ3 core rulebook, and it was a great way to create permanent magic items.

Happy to see that it was included in MW.

Edited September 28, 2016 by Mankcam